Ranking: The UK’s top-performing designer outlet centres

Designer outlets are a hot commodity. Just last month, Hammerson sold its minority stake in the group that controls Oxfordshire centre Bicester Village in a “transformational” £1.5bn deal, and there are plans in the works for several new centres in the UK – all hoping to capitalise on Brits’ growing love of the format.  

To find out what the landscape looks like for designer outlet centres and see how they stack up against one another, we tasked consultancy service JDM Retail to rank the centres by how well brands could expect to perform at each location.  

For fairness, the ranking uses an index calculated by sales and sales density for the same brands and store formats across the UK – not centre-based sales that different brand mixes would influence. For the methodology, see the full report.

Here’s how the centres stack up: 

“Outlets are very much on the rise in terms of sales performance and there’s interest in them from all quarters,” says JDM Retail founder Jonathan De Mello.  

“Generally speaking, outlets now tend to be in the top echelons for retail store performance. For example, Bicester Village often beats London’s West End when it comes to sales per square foot.” 

It will be no surprise then that the ranking is topped by the now world-famous Bicester Village, which has become a pilgrimage for international tourists as well as British day-trippers searching for a great buy.

JDM’s index gives Bicester a score of 309, far above anyone else in the table, so retailers trading there can hope to bring in considerably higher than average sales compared to what they would generate elsewhere.

The centre is known for high-end luxury, more so than most other designer outlets, and shoppers flock to the likes of Alexander McQueen, Gucci and Dior. Among the newest retailers capitalising on Bicester’s success are ready-to-wear fashion brands Anine Bing and Sézane. The number of premium beauty brands on offer is creeping up, with new stores from high-end fragrance house Diptyque and ultra-premium skincare brand Augustinus Bader – where a small tube of moisturiser is likely to set you back upwards of £200 (at the non-outlet price, that is).

Although not quite as high on the index as Bicester, second-place Cheshire Oaks in Wirral should yield similar results for retailers. The roster of new additions to the McArthurGlen outlet includes mid-market leisure brands Columbia, Sweaty Betty and Under Armour as well as fashion brands Pinko and Zadig & Voltaire, and shoe designer Sophia Webster.  

Portsmouth’s Gunwharf Quays rounds out the medallists, netting an index score of 170.

Grand day outlet 

So what’s driving this popularity? According to Rioja Estates founder Giles Membray, who has worked on the development of several centres on the list, including West Midlands Designer Outlet in Cannock (sixth), it’s a combination of changing shopper behaviour and changes in ecommerce sales.  

“People like the idea of a shopping destination and they enjoy going to see something different,” he says.  

“Shopping at an outlet has become a day out, the dwell time of outlets is almost twice that of a shopping centre, as is the conversion rate. Although shoppers may not always be able to find the exact item they were looking for because they’ve made the effort to go there, they’ll always buy something.”  

Membray also notes that how retailers are using their outlet stores is changing, with many sending online returns directly to outlets.  

“The retailers have made an effort to provide more choice in these stores, and there’s more and more stock going onto them partly because of Covid and partly because of internet returns.  

“More choice means a happier customer because they’re more likely to find the right size, colour or style that they’re searching for.”  

Rampant inflation and tightening of shoppers’ personal budgets over recent years have also spurred a rise in outlets’ popularity, says the retail director of Wembley Park’s development and asset management firm Quintain, Matt Slade.  

“The customer is more conscious about their wallet, how they’re spending their money and what they do when they do when they spend it,” he says.  

“We have an unusual hybrid type of behaviour here at Wembley Park, where we get people making a day out of it, with about 60% of our customers coming here out of catchment as a destination. That may also be because we benefit from the events that happen in Wembley but we also get local shoppers using the outlet centre as a shopping centre.

”The local catchment come to us with high regularity because they want an everyday bargain and they get more value for money than they would do if they lived in a market town and nipped to the local high street.”

Upping the ante 

But just because shoppers are being more cautious with their disposable income, it doesn’t mean they will settle for a mediocre shopping experience.  

“Shopper expectations have definitely increased,” says the general manger of London Designer Outlet (LDO) Daniel Tomkinson.  

“When people only have so much money to spend, you want to give them the best experience you can. Outlets also do well during times of financial difficulty and we’ve seen how shopping habits have changed, and what shoppers are doing to make their money go further, but everyone has a little less money than they did a few years ago. 

“It’s important for us to make sure that we demonstrate how much we want to work with that customer and add to their experience because we understand that what they’re buying is an important purchase.”  

Premiumisation is also happening throughout much of the centres on our list, with more high-end retailers not only increasing the number of outlet stores in their estates but searching for bigger units where they can invest in making a more impactful stores 

“Outlet centres are very lucrative for retailers, they can generate a lot of income,” says Tompkinson.  

“But they’re also places where brands can invest in their identity. A huge number of the brands we have at LDO have demanded more space so they can invest more money and bring in that more premium look – that’s something that we’ve seen year in, year out.”  

By the looks of our ranking, depending on the centre, a strong outlet strategy could become a sound investment for not only generating sales but also the halo effect of a great brand experience.

“The reason why retailers locate in high street stores is because of the footfall, not just the money they make in sales,” says De Mello.  

“But if we look at Bicester, for example, which gets 6 million visitors per year, you can start to get a handle on the marketing value of those as well, which is the true value of the store.”  

Location, location, location 

This demand from both retailers and shoppers has meant there are now several developments in the works for new designer outlet centres, most notably Grantham Designer Outlet Village, Scotch Corner Designer Village and Cotswolds Designer Outlet. 

Further details on location-based demand for these outlets, and white space where future developments could be expected to thrive, are included in JDM’s report.

Grantham boasts a location within the top 14% of underserved spend and developers hope to break ground on the centre before the end of this year, says Rioja’s Membray – who manages the project’s leasing, funding and design.

“We’ve designed Grantham a little bit like a Lincolnshire village,” says Membray.  

“It’s got scale but it’s not massive, and we’re only trading on the ground floor. We’re making it totally flexible so brands can take space on a monthly, six-monthly, quarterly or yearly basis and they can contract or expand depending on their stock supply.  

“We’ve developed four different unit sizes: anchor stores, mid-size, small and kiosks, and right in the centre of the scheme we’ve got a play area and restaurants all together. It’s a fantastic location.”

The centre is already almost 40% pre-let and work will begin on-site when around half of the units have been claimed by retailers.  

Glasgow, Lancashire and the East Midlands are among the locations prime for the picking when it comes to future developments.

If the popularity of designer outlets continues to grow, you can expect these catchments to be snapped up faster than a half-price pair of Jimmy Choos at Bicester Village.